Godzilla

Director: Gareth Edwards
With: Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, Bryan Cranston

I've always been a buff of disaster films and I remember loving Roland Emmerich aka King of Disaster's Godzilla as a kid when I watched it back in '98 with the whole family. I just learned by now that critics actually thought that it sucked balls and this year's Godzilla is the immaculate one which redeemed the Godzilla franchise. I'm not in sync with them. Gareth Edwards' version didn't do it for me.

But to be fair, the only Godzilla movie I've watched prior to this is the Emmerich one. Ha! And I've always been a fan of Emmerich's style. It's still vivid in my memory but I thought the scene where the guy right on Godzilla's footprint was epic. As cheesy as he can be, I always dug his mainstream approach to his disaster films. The Day After Tomorrow and 2012 are two of my favorite films of all time. LOL. So there goes my taste.

Edwards' take felt a little too serious and less silly for me. It's story-oriented but I always prefer the survival aspect of the main characters in films like this. There's no sense of danger and worry for the characters. There were few but they're not as startling and epic as I thought they would be. Same with the action scenes, there's only few of them and they're not so badass, except for that one defining moment of Godzilla. But other than that, they're dull for a giant monster as the subject. Made me miss Pacific Rim.  It doesn't help that Godzilla didn't appear until the second half of the film and worse, I find myself more excited with Alexandre Desplat's score than the scenes itself.

As for the fatty Godzilla, Fatzilla, I have no beef with him. I thought they made him as humongous as possible and it was translated well into the screen. The visuals are glorious but it pales in comparison to the visual-effect heavy movies of our generation.

For what it's worth, it has a good premise and the twist to Godzilla as 'King of the Monsters' is an awesome finishing touch. My favorite aspect overall is Seamus McGarvey's well-utilized camera techniques capturing a mood that's perfect in every scene. It really is the strongest point of the movie.

Also, I'm one of those Pinoys who's always delighted that his country is part of the setting in a mainstream film so yay Philippines! It's a pleasant surprise.

Only Lovers Left Alive

Director: Jim Jarmusch
With: Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt, Jeffrey Wright

Just when I thought I'm done with the vampire genre after the traumatic movie experience that is 'The Twilight Saga', here come Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston starring in one, with Mia Wasikowska as an unexpected bonus. I do not HATE the whole Twilight Saga, by the way. The first one is actually my guilty pleasure but the rest are just cringe worthy and kind of annoying with the love triangle and Bella being blatantly a bitch. Ick. Enough.

Only Lovers Left Alive is a different take on the vampire genre without changing too much on the traits of the vampire characters. They have similar attributes from other vampire movies but executed in an offbeat and likable manner. 

Thirst for blood, Check. Uber white complexion, Check. Not the bluish kind of white though. Nocturnal beings, yup. Enhanced speed, yup. They are ancient and they also bite necks. All of these accomplished in Jarmusch's idiosyncratic style. They drink blood from a tequila glass for cryinoutloud and sometimes they put them in a freezer and turn them into blood ice popsicles. Most creative vampires ever.

Each character is different and very distinct, but all are eccentric. They refer to plants through their scientific names, for one. If Phoebe Buffay is a vampire, I could see her being like Eve (Tilda Swinton), very positive, scrappy and loving. Eve's lover Adam (Tom Hiddleston) is the serious type who's into music and refers to humans as 'zombies'. The two balance each other out and in every display of their affection, you can just tell that they're better in every single way. Way better than the intense Edward Cullen and lifeless Bella Swan. Even their slow dance is better, dancing awkwardly yet romantic to Denise LaSalle's Trapped by a Thing Called Love. Move over Flightless Bird, American Mouth. Seriously, I'm living for Tilda Swinton's dance in this film.

Just the background of their characters alone make this vampire movie interesting and amusing. On top of that, they're joined by Ava (Mia Wasikowska), Eve's sister with a larger than life personality that didn't mesh well with Adam. I would compare her to Caroline of Girls who coincidentally is also hated by a character named Adam.

I can't think of anyone playing the roles of Adam and Eve as perfect as what Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston did to them. Vampiresque physical appearance aside, they compliment each other with their commitment to the personalities of their characters. Hiddleston and Swinton play their characters without questioning the absurdity of the concept as not only vampires, but vampire lovers. They.are.super.cool. Wasikowska's portion in the film is nothing short of fun and energy as she disturbed the peace of the lovers. The film would still work even if her scene was cut but her presence proved to be a fun addition to Adam and Eve's intimacy and she's truly entertaining in all of her scenes.

With all of the abovementioned, Jim Jarmusch's innovative and filled with subtle sense of humor screenplay shined most. Casting of Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston as leads is perfect and the direction is as vivid and artsy as a 90's music video and I mean that in a good way. Grungy sets, costumes, make up and all.

Also, gotta love this wacky couple selfie:

SURVIVOR CAGAYAN Episode 11 Ranking

No more SPENSHA :( Goodbye Tasha! You had a great run.

Don't expect a lengthy writeup. This episode is so bad that I'm just uninspired to write anything about it.

This week, no one receives a Plummy because no one managed to make me satisfied and happy this episode.

6. Trish

I HATE THAT TRISH IS TOO UNDERSTANDING. When Tony blindsided her with the LJ boot, LJ who was her boy toy, she didn't do anything but still trust Tony. When Tony once again blindsided her with Jefra, she didn't do anything because she understood Tony's reasoning behind the move. What.the.hell? I guess she's doing the right thing because Tony serves as her shield throughout the game but cmon woman, show some anger towards Tony. But enough of Trish, I still think that she's gonna win.

5. Kass

I HATE KASS FOR PLAYING STRATEGICALLY THIS ROUND. Seriously, of all rounds to play smart, why this round? Is Tasha really that huge of a threat? lol absolutely. But Kass has been playing with her emotions throughout the game, why change now? If only she was being consistent with her emotional gameplay, then Trish would have left this round but since she's just singlehandedly ruined everything, I just don't know what to do with her. I guess the only thing I like about her is that she's a chaos maker and she spared J'Tia. But sometimes, even the chaos that she makes are just annoying that even Tony was being equally lolworthy all throughout their quarrel, I can't help but choose Tony's side. Oh well.

4. Tony

I HATE THAT TONY IS SO GOOD AT READING PEOPLE. Fact of the matter is, Tony just did his own thing and I will never blame him for that. I'm actually kind of rooting for him now now that Tasha's gone. But since I'm a Tasha fan first, I hate that he's so good at the game that there's no way he'd get eliminated til Final 4. 

3. Woo

I HATE THAT WOO IS A PUSSY. Don't get me wrong, Woo amused all the Survivor fans and the Filipino kids with his entertaining performance. Handsdown he was awesome. But game wise, he stammered his way to destroy a great plan. He's worse than King Bertie. 

2. Spencer

I HATE THAT SPENCER WON THAT IMMUNITY. First, it broke Tasha's record of winning 4 Immunity Challenges consecutively. Second, I do believe that if Tasha won this week's Immunity, that Tony wouldn't let Spencer get voted out and there might be a chance that Woo and Kass follow the split vote plan. Just because Tasha is perceived as the ultimate threat, not Spencer. Also, I love kids and I would never consider calling them 'Little Monsters'.

1. Tasha

I HATE THAT TASHA GOT VOTED OFF. Nevertheless, Tasha is the first player this season to be ranked no. 1 in spite getting voted off. Tasha is the right person to vote out. She's the biggest threat remaining in the game. Even her admitted that everything she said to sway them to vote her way was bullshit. But I've kind of moved on now. Point is, she made me proud. 6th place is not bad. Three consecutive Immunity wins (in which I think no one pointed this out so far but the challenges that she won are different from each other -- mental, endurance and skill) is something to be proud of especially that she's a product of one of the worst (yet entertaining) tribes of all time. She must return and she will be missed. Even Parvati declared her as her Survivor Idol. That's HUGE.

WINNER PREDICTION:

Trish

NEXT EPISODE: I wish I like Kass and Trish because the fight seems exciting but meh. Without Tasha I won't have the same enthusiasm with this season. But I'm looking forward to know if Spencer can survive with or without Immunity.

Til next week. Tell me your reactions for this episode by tweeting me @jaynormouskid

The Amazing Spiderman 2

Director: Marc Webb
With: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Dane Dehaan, Jamie Foxx, Sally Field, Chris Cooper, Paul Giamatti, Colm Feore, Campbell Scott, B.J. Novak, Embeth Davidtz, Felicity Jones

A massive improvement from its predecessor, The Amazing Spiderman 2 has better stories to tell from Peter Parker's family history, to his love story with Gwen Stacy and to the villains, one of which is Harry Osborn, his long time friend turned biggest enemy.

The underwhelming and forgettable first Amazing Spiderman is well redeemed by its sequel. Although there are times when there's too much stitching of scenes all at once that one would understand why they had to cut Mary Jane's (Shailene Woodley) scenes from the film. There's so many things going on, bombarded by storyarcs and villains that even the villains themselves have their own one.

No complains here because it's more enjoyable this way, just like how I enjoyed the multiple villains of Tobey Maguire's third Spiderman movie with Sandman and Venom. Plus, this makes up for the lame Lizard villain of the first one.

Never a fan of Andrew Garfield. I don't think he can transcend Tobey Maguire as the titular superhero but he's satisfactory here. Although the reason why he's so effective as Peter Parker is because of Emma Stone's appeal. It's probably not right to give all the credit to Emma but to be quite frank, Andrew Garfield's face sometimes look problematic. But they're magical as a duo. They're a real life couple, that's why one can't help but feel the authenticity of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy's sweet moments especially that they're associated with awesome soundtrack. Last time they had me at Coldplay's Til Kingdom Come, this time they got me with Phosphorescent's Song for Zula (a song also featured in The Spectacular Now :3 Shailene ;_;). You can always trust Marc Webb in terms of soundtrack. Remember (500) Days of Summer?

Emma Stone is just so beautiful and lovable in the film, it's deadly. It's as if every time she appears on the screen, you just love her more & more and this applies both to Gwen Stacy and Emma Stone herself. She's a gem. I love her.

It's unfair to make the monster ensemble a footnote in this writeup because this star-studded film is tremendously acted. Dane Dehaan gave an edgy touch to Harry Osborn, once portrayed by James Franco who I also commend. I've always believed in this actor who actually made my list of best supporting actors of 2013 for The Place Beyond the Pines. Really glad that he took this role because it's way bolder and more reachable for the mainstream audience. With Sally Field's small role, her revelation scene with Andrew Garfield provided one of the poignant scenes of the film. Paul Giamatti was enjoyable. Jamie Foxx, I'm just not a fan. lol

I still prefer Sam Raimi's Spiderman trilogy but what I like about Marc Webb's variant is his playfulness in utilizing Spiderman's powers. Aside from Emma Stone and the soundtrack, Spiderman's webs and acrobatic stunts even in Webb's first Spiderman movie have always been my favorite part. It's one of the better aspects I've noticed in this film compared to Raimi's.

The Amazing Spiderman 2 is heavily plotted, action-packed and sentimental at the same time. I can't imagine and I can't wait to see how they'll follow this up especially with its rather heartbreaking ending. All I can say is good luck Shailene or whoever will play Mary Jane!

Oh and if you haven't watched it yet, there's a badass Mystique scene some time in the middle of its end credits. So timely for Jennifer Lawrence to appear because I can't help but compare her to Emma Stone for reasons I don't really know yet. But yes, that's a tip if you tend to leave the movies while the end credits roll. :3

SURVIVOR CAGAYAN Episode 10 Ranking

This can't be said enough but this is really an unpredictable season. My blog entry for last week's episode proves that. Because the result of this episode negated all of my predictions.

Ha! I'm having a love-hate relationship with this season but I think at the end of this all, it's going to be in my Top 10. I'm pretty sure I'd be bummed again if one of Tasha/Spencer leaves next episode but they've survived so much that I'm already satisfied with their placement even if they do end up being voted out next week. I'm still hoping they would succeed.

Waahh I literally just watched the episode so the adrenaline is flowing through my fingers as I type this but it's literally my reaction when I saw the third Jefra vote. WAH!

Suck it Jefra! If you helped Jeremiah, Tasha and Spencer last episode then you'd be in the Final 4, then you would have gone with head held high. Okay, there's no guarantee that that would happen since Tony has millions of idol but she would have left without getting blindsided and she'd left the game knowing that she made a big move.

But she blew it and she'll remain, as she's always been, a footnote to this season. I don't even understand how she has fans!

But anyway, finally the first Plummy for Tasha. She's always been the bridesmaid but now she's the bride of this episode. Yes, Tony hatched the plan to vote out Jefra. Yes, he found the idol and he's got two idols in his pocket, but one of the reasons why Tony got paranoid was because of Spencer and Tasha.

Both Spencer and Tasha did their roles perfectly in this blindside. Tasha stayed with the women for as long as she can to keep Tony thinking that there's a women's alliance brewing. Then Spencer spilled Jefra's blindside plan to Tony. It all worked perfectly.

But even if both did their thing, I just know that if Tasha didn't win that Immunity, Tony wouldn't flip to their side again. Tasha is an unbelievable challenge, social and strategic threat that it wouldn't make sense for Tony not to vote her out if she didn't win Immunity. But she did! Woohoo! She rightfully deserves this episode's precious Plummy and all the remaining contestants have finally and rightfully won their own! Proves how great this final 6 is. :)

7. Jefra

Satisfying is an understatement to define Jefra's boot. Spencer summed Jefra up in his voting confessional. If Jefra wasn't a follower, if Jefra trusted her instinct that she doesn't want to get fooled by Tony, then I think (debatable, to be quite honest) she would have lasted longer or get some respect from the jury. But she chose the lame path, played the safe game, and look what happened to her? Blindfuckingsided. And oh, it's so delicious. It's literally the definition of bad karma. It must be horrible that the player who she thought fooled her is the same player that orchestrated her elimination. But that's Survivor Jefra, you should have trusted your instinct.

6. Trish

Trish was almost invisible this episode aside from her funny antics. Don't have much anything to say about her but I still think that she's winning. For a winner though, she't not as visible as she should be. But her gameplay is being recognized so she should be good.

5. Kass

Kass is blindsided again this episode and I like the look on her face when she learned that Jefra's leaving. But what I like more about Kass this episode is that she showed more of her personality which supported her being a villain of this season. The show barely produces a villain anymore so I'm really glad that Kass is a legit villain and from the previews for the next episode, it seems like I'm going to like her again. Please continue to play with your emotions Kass!

4. Woo

What's missing during his scene in the auction was a hashtag on the screen. A legit and popular hashtag - #FOODPORN. Woo continues to be a fun presence. I love that he helped Tony to blindside Jefra but other than that, let's face it, Woo wouldn't win. At least he's not boring.

3. Spencer

Geez, I'm really surprised and confused by the hate Spencer's been receiving. He could be a little smug but he's so harmless at this point in the game. He's not even rude to be hated. For a player who's been constantly under a dark cloud throughout the game, I really don't understand where the hate is coming from. He's got the whiterock for crying out loud. But anyway, both Spencer and Tasha played their roles perfectly in why Tony got paranoid and why Jefra was blindsided. Their genders also served great purpose for this episode. Way to go for blabbing Jefra to Tony. He did it with the right timing and it worked. 

2. Tony

Tony is another player that has increasing haters. I somewhat understand it as he's kind of reminiscent of Russell. But he's so much better attitude-wise and gameplay-wise. I'm not sure about gameplay hehe but he's very entertaining that's why I like him. Russell was just infuriating. Tony is now guaranteed of a Final 4, but I don't see him reaching the end. I'd be ecstatic to see him win but he hasn't showed great challenge skills yet to win Immunity come Final 4/3. But for now, I gotta thank Tony for helping Tasha/Spencer survive. He's one of the reasons why I'm still loving this season because this could easily have a Pagonging but Tony is preventing it from happening. People are complaining about this but I'm pretty sure they would be complaining more if no flips happened this merge. So we should be thankful for Tony Vlachos. Such a compelling character.

1. Tasha

She's the real triple threat of this season. I never would have predicted her to win three Immunity challenges. Consecutively. But she did and I'm so proud of her. I'm even proud FOR her. Now I understand why they kept on showing her leading the Brains in challenge practices and all. Plus, her performance in the pole challenge. Practice indeed makes perfect. And I have to take what I said in my last blog entry stating that she's not yet a legend for her edit. Forgive me, but everyone would agree that she's now a legendary Survivor player and she's definitely one of the All Stars product when this season wraps up. I just gotta thank the Survivor Gods for her existence because she serves as the fuel to why I'm still watching this show. Well, I'll never miss an episode anyway haha but I'll always have an enthusiasm to watch this season because Tasha keeps on surviving. Tasha keeps on winning. It's always exciting when a player you're rooting for is not in the majority yet she keeps on winning clutch challenges. With her challenge skills and strategic skills, swimming and bonding with women almost all throughout the episode, she saved herself in an awesome impressive fashion. I really hope she wins this game and I'm putting her back in my Winner prediction just because I think she can. Please please please. :)

WINNER PREDICTION:

1. Trish

2. Tasha

Next episode: It seems like #ChaosKass is back and I hope she's one of the main reasons why their alliance would crumble and I hope there's no turning back. Excited for next week! These players always keep me on my toes though so I guess I shouldn't be that excited. Either way, I'm just glad that these players continue to deliver.

Tweet me @jaynormouskid :)